Bypoll to Jayalalithaa's RK Nagar assembly seat on December 21

Bypoll to the Dr Radha Krishnan Nagar assembly constituency in Chennai which fell vacant following the demise of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa last year will be held on December 21, the Election Commission announced on Friday.

The counting of votes will be held on December 24 and the election process will be completed before 26th of next month, an EC press release which was made available by Tamil Nadu’s Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said.

The announcement comes days after the Madras high court said it expected the EC to hold by-election in RK Nagar by December 31.

Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar made the observation on a plea of a Dravida Munnetra Kazagham leader R S Bharathi.

Bypoll in RK Nagar previously scheduled for April 12, 2017 was subsequently cancelled by the EC following allegations of bribing of voters.

Also, the cancellation of the bypoll came days after the Income Tax department held searches in premises of Tamil Nadu Health Minister C Vijayabaskar.

It may be recalled that premises belonging to the minister’s associates were also searched and raids revealed routing of Rs 89 crore for “distribution to voters” in RK Nagar assembly segment.

Documents seized during searches at the premises of an accountant of the minister showed details of Rs 89 crore and the money being channelled to RK Nagar through party functionaries.

The amount was allegedly channelled through many party functionaries for distribution to voters, Income Tax sources had said in April.

The RK Nagar bypoll was announced as part of by-election to constituencies in states including Arunachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

The date of gazette notification for the bypoll will be on November 27.

Last date for filing nominations will be December 4 and scrutiny will be on December 5 and last date for withdrawal of nominations will be December 7.

Image: While the election to the RK Nagar seat -- formerly held by Jayalalithaa -- will be on December 21, the counting of the votes will be on December 24. Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters